In Sickness and in Health
by Lamanth
Summary: ONE SHOT – And they said that medics made the worst patients? They didn't have a clue what they were talking about. Sasuke/Ino


**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or any of its characters, merchandise, TV rights, ect… (I think you get the point.)

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><p><span>Summary <span>

ONE SHOT – And they said that medics made the worst patients? They didn't have a clue what they were talking about. Sasuke/Ino

Like all of my work this is just something that happened to float through the empty void inside my head. Like it or hate it please R and R as honest opinions are always welcomed, as are random acts of worship.

"Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished and persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot."

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><p><em>But after seeing you I know that here is best,<em>  
><em>Oh yeah the world can sometimes make you feel bad,<em>  
><em>Oh yeah but don't forget the things you have,<em>  
><em>Oh yeah boy you can always count on me,<em>  
><em>In sickness and in health baby always be yourself,<em>

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><p><strong>In Sickness and in Health<strong>

It was the end of a long day, the latest in a long line of long days, and they didn't look like they were going to shorten any time soon. Yamanaka Ino waved Sakura off and then all but stumbled up to her front door, thinking with longing of bed and sleep, and trying not to remember that she had a six a.m. start and that it was already close to midnight. Not that the rosette was fairing any better, she'd almost fallen asleep and drowned in her bowl of ramen, there was only so long the pair of them could keep working the way they were. Stupid summer fever.

On the third attempt the blonde got the key into the lock and let herself into the small house, thankfully shutting the door behind her. Without bothering with the lights Ino slipped of her shoes and, pausing only long enough to deposit her keys in the bowl that always sat on the small table in the hallway, headed upstairs. She fancied that she could almost hear her bed calling her. An audio hallucination no doubt brought on by sleep depravation the still rational part of her mind decided.

"Shh." Yamanaka Ino hissed when the bedroom door creaked loudly, like some special effect from a cheesy horror film, when she pushed it open

"Who or what are you shushing?" Came an irritated voice from the rooms occupant.

"The door." The blonde said unabashed, not really caring if he thought her strange for talking to inanimate objects, she was too tired. Hell, most of the time talking to him was like trying to converse with a brick wall so he really was in no position to judge.

"Hmm." It wasn't the usual dismissive grunt he was prone to giving, just a slight sound in the back of his throat to show he was listening, which was a surprise in its self.

"Did I wake you?" Ino said softly, suddenly feeling a little guilty that she might have disturbed him

"No," Was the mumbled response, and she could hear the sound of him shifting on the bed. "I was just dozing."

"Oh!" Ino's sound was a shocked exclamation when the room was suddenly bathed in light from the bedside lamp. "You didn't have to do that." She said almost reproachfully as she watched Uchiha Sasuke blink owlishly as he tried to adjust his eyes to the sudden brightness. He did look terribly sweet nuzzling his pillow and with his hair all mussed from sleep, but the warmth that was filling Ino as she looked at him froze when he opened his mouth.

"Had to, the suspense of waiting for you to crash into something was killing me." The dry sarcasm in his voice had the blonde scowling with irritation.

Even when he was flat on his back with almost all of his strength drained by a virus, that had left him sick and achy he was still an insufferable jerk. It was a wonder that all the doors in their small house hadn't needed to be enlarged just so he could get his massively overgrown ego through them. He really thought far too much of himself and far too little of everyone else in Ino's humble opinion.

"You're not the only ninja here, remember." Came the tart response and Ino felt what little sympathy she had been feeling for Sasuke vanish like a puff of smoke and her slight feeling of guilt at having disturbed him vanished like morning mist. Even when he was sick the guy was still totally high on himself.

"Whatever." He snapped, trying to glare at her but having the effect somewhat ruined by the bout of harsh coughing that struck him.

"How you feeling…?" Ino asked, a little more gently as she watched him shudder slightly in the aftermath of the coughing fit and mumble something unintelligible under his breath.

"Sasuke!" The male in question winced theatrically at her annoyed exclamation. "Why haven't you got the window open like I know Sakura told you to?"

"Cus Sakura's not the only one who could have taken lessons from Morino Ibiki when it comes to torture." Sasuke's response could only be described as sullen as he eyed the, quite clearly, unfeeling leggy blonde.

"Baka, you need fresh air in here." The ice eyed female quickly and efficiently undid the catches on the window, and allowed the clean air of the summer evening to waft into the room. In her head she silently counting to ten as a way to help her calm down.

"How would you know?" Came the grouchy response, and Ino turned from the window she had just opened to see the dark haired male once nuzzling his pillow and glaring at her like a sulky child.

"I am a medic." She stated simply, mentally taking a hold on her temper.

Sasuke was sick and he hated it, hated feeling less then a hundred percent and having to rely on others, she knew all this and should therefore cut him some slack. But knowing that he was just lashing out because he felt useless didn't stop her wanting to ring his neck. Damn it all, she'd had to pull every string in the book, as well as tie a few people up with them, just so he could stay at home and not be taken into hospital which was where he really belonged. The least he could do was be a tiny bit grateful.

"And that's what you do, is it?" Sasuke asked rolling his eyes in a dismissive fashion. "Freeze your patients to death."

"Yes." Ino bit out, trying to resist the urge to just slap him and tell him to get a grip.

Instead she just stayed silent as she started stripping off. What she wanted, no, needed more than anything was to just cuddle down and go to sleep. Shizune, Sakura and herself had been surviving on canteen sandwiches and black coffee for the best part of two weeks, all the medics were being run ragged and Ino still had her ANBU duties to perform. She'd had a meeting with Ibiki first thing that morning, but due to complications it had carried on until close on midday. From there she'd had to go directly to the hospital to work a double shift covering for one of the other medics who had apparently gone down with the same virus Sasuke had. Which brought her neatly to the point that when she had finally gotten home it was to the world's worst patent himself. And that had just been today.

Sasuke was moody and sick. And because he was sick he was more moody than normal. And his blonde girlfriend was currently standing in the middle of the bedroom floor in nothing but a pair of white cotton panties. Ino reached out to pick up the big T-shirt, one she _borrowed_ from Chouji, that she slept in and in doing so gave the unwell Uchiha a perfect view of her well-toned body. Ordinarily Sasuke wouldn't have cared, it was a sight he was used to, but the fact that he was in a state where he was powerless to do anything made the vision far more of a turn on than it normally was. His solution was to childishly bury his head under the covers while mentally cursing Ino for, what he considered, deliberately teasing him.

"Hey!" Sasuke yelled in shocked surprise as the covers where removed from his head and instinctively he tried to tug the duvet out of Ino's hand as she lifted it so she could get into bed. "You can't get in here."

"Why not?" She asked sniffly, rolling her eyes and climbed in next to him in spite of the frown twisting his features. "You expecting someone else?"

"What if you catch whatever I've got?" He said, but still shifted so that he could loop and arm around her slender body while she rested her head on his chest.

"If I catch it then I catch it," Ino said dismissivly, clinging tightly to Sasuke when he rolled slightly so that he could switch off the bedside light. "And it's a bit late to start worrying now, don't ya think?"

He didn't bother to respond with a verbal answer, since both of them knew she was right anyway and he'd never give her the satisfaction of admitting it. The pair of them just settled down only for Sasuke to feel a spasm of pain ripple through his body as a series of hash coughs ripped at his chest and throat.

"That's it," The blonde snapped in the darkness, as she felt the muscles in Sasuke's chest convulsive under her hand. "I'm gonna ask Lady Tsunade to have a look at you tomorrow."

"I don't want her to take a look at me!" Sasuke whimpered in a very un-Uchiha like way and clutched the covers tightly to him as if they were some sort of shield that could protect him.

It had been bad enough when Sakura had examined him earlier that day. He'd felt like a piece of meat, well tenderized by the time she was done, as the emerald-eyed medic had prodded and poked at him and all the while Ino had stood there letting him be physically abused. Ino was bad enough when it came time for his yearly physical, though she normally made up for it afterwards. Sakura wasn't as gentle as his girlfriend, even if there wasn't much of a distinction, but both girls paled in comparison to their teacher. At times it seemed that there was nothing the Godaime Hokage liked better then inflicting pain on someone who couldn't fight back, i.e. him.

"What made you think you had a choice?" Ino said, pulling the duvet off of her head, which was where it had ended up after Sasuke's momentary freak out.

"Bitch." But there was no real heat behind the description and he made no move to stop the mind walker when she resettled herself, half-lying beside him and half on top of him. He just silently cursed the fact that he was feeling too out of it to take advantage of the situation or even to take advantage of Ino.

"So you keep saying." She responded carelessly her words half lost as she tried and failed to stifle a yawn.

Silence once again settled over the pair and Ino was just on the verge of drifting to sleep when she was jerked to full consciousness by Sasuke's violent exclamation. "Fuck!"

"What is it now?" And the blonde couldn't keep the irritation out of her voice, she had to be up and awake and at work in less than six hours. Worse still was that she was expected to be polite to patients and gentle with a hypodermic syringe.

"I need to pee." All it took was those four works uttered in a decidedly self-pitying tone to restore Ino to good humor. She didn't mind being rudely jerked awake if it meant she got to enjoy the Uchiha's suffering.

"Ahh poor baby, want me to come and give you a hand?" The playful tone of her voice was murder to Sasuke and he felt like screaming at her, why was it she was only ever this flirtatious when he was unable to do anything about it?

"There are times when I really hate you." Ino could not help but giggle at his petulant tone his voice had taken on. Mister big bad ex avenger sniffling and grousing like a small child, it was just too cute for her to ignore.

"Meh, you love it." Which was true he admitted silently, though at that particular point in time while he might love her he didn't like the mind walker all that much.

"Bitch." Sasuke snarled as he reluctantly left the warmth and comfort of the bed and headed to the bathroom. It took a tremendous effort but he somehow managed to convince himself that he couldn't hear Ino cackling like the witch that she was at his discomfort. It wasn't even as if he'd done anything to deserve such unkind treatment.

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><p>Please R and R I'd love to know what you thought.<p>

Big love and inspiration

Lamanth


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